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Mayoral candidates Tom Ammiano, Angela Alioto, Matt Gonzalez, Gavin Newsom, and Susan Leal debate at USF Sept. 25.
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Mayoral Hopefuls Square Off on Homelessness During USF Forum
The five leading candidates for San Francisco mayor fielded questions about homelessness and other social problems during a two-hour forum in USF’s McLaren Center Sept. 25.
More than 600 people, some in an overflow room in Harney Science Center, gathered on campus to hear candidates Gavin Newsom, Tom Ammiano, Angela Alioto, Susan Leal, and Matt Gonzalez square off over how San Francisco can best meet the needs of its poor.
During the forum, which was sponsored by the Leo T. McCarthy Center for Public Service and the Common Good and four non-profit organizations serving the poor, all five mayoral hopefuls pledged, if elected, to make strides in resolving San Francisco’s homeless problem.
Alioto said she would work to get homeless people off the street and “give them temporary to permanent housing with case management that addresses their particular issues.”
Gonzalez said the first step in solving the problem is “to get control of our shelters. They need to be safe.”
Newsom, whose controversial Care Not Cash initiative was criticized by many of the candidates, said San Francisco needs to “recognize the failure of its cash-based system,” in which homeless people receive a check each month from The City. “By converting cash to services…I think this city can finally rationalize its failures.”
Leal agreed that San Francisco should move away from a cash-based system, and said “the first thing we need to do is stop demonizing our homeless.”
Ammiano took a shot at Newsom’s Care Not Cash initiative, saying the way to solve the homeless problem is “not through phony, divisive” ballot measures.
The candidates also addressed questions about rent control, health care for the uninsured, and cooperation between the nonprofit and public sectors in San Francisco. The five forum participants are among nine running for mayor. Organizers limited the forum to candidates who have garnered at least 5 percent in any published poll.
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